TUSCUMBIA-Back a few weeks ago at the beginning of a miserable
cold spell I went out to the greenhouse to pot camellia cuttings I brought home from Mobile. When I opened the door, I noticed a small Carolina Wren flying around inside. I thought to myself that this is one lucky bird that I decided to come out here when I did or this poor bird would have starved to death. I propped the door open and spent several minutes herding the bird toward the door listening to Blackie bark and run around inside the greenhouse until the bird finally flew out. Blackie chased it as far as the underground fence would allow. Silly dog thinks that she’s going to be able to catch a bird flying 15 feet above her head.
Later I went out to water the plants and cuttings overwintering in the greenhouse, and there was the wren again! I had been in the greenhouse earlier in the day making up potting mix for my Christmas cactus and African violets and it wasn’t in there. Apparently the bird is roosting inside the greenhouse at night. If there is a hole large enough for it to get in, there’s a large amount of cold air getting in the house. With temps down to 7 during the cold spell, a pot containing a florist azalea that I was overwintering in the greenhouse shattered. Bet the wren was chuckling at me after she let herself back in the greenhouse that night. Later in the spring while making up some planting mix for starting seeds, I dug into a bag of peat moss with a spade. All of a sudden something flies up into my face and had me doing a Fred Sanford “this is the big one Elizabeth, I’m coming to see you” impersonation. It scared the you know what out of both of us.
Wrens may be small but they are one of the boldest birds. One in my yard made a nest in a fertilizer bag each year until I stopped using fertilizer and switched to compost. Actually I got tired of going to buy a new bag of fertilizer. Then she moved to a garbage can I kept perlite in. Forget about putting up one of those fancy wren houses, they won’t use them. Hanging baskets or anything hanging up on a wall is a favorite. One year I had one make a nest in an empty onion bag. One tried to roost at night in some of the hanging baskets I’m over wintering in the house garage. Blackie and Patches finally convinced it to go elsewhere. Another nested in some pots in an old recycled sink I use out in the garden for washing vegetable before bringing them to the house. Those little ones almost drowned during a heavy rain storm. Another time a ring necked dove built a nest inside a gutter on the house. That nest did get washed away.
This past year I had one that made a nest on in a bucket in my tilt trailer inside my back garage. The only place that 
she could have gotten in was through the opening for the dog door which the dogs had worn a corner off. I put her nest in a hanging basket outside by the overhead doors, hoping she would move there. I wouldn’t have anything intact in the garage if I let her fledge around the hooligans. Plus it was way too hot in a closed up garage in 100 degree weather. A couple of days later, there is the nest back in the bucket. This time it was thrown outside. A few days later I checked the bucket and thought I had convinced her to go elsewhere. A couple of weeks later, I noticed egg shells on my bird seed bucket lid. Unfortunately it got too hot in the closed garage for the little ones and they died from heat exhaustion.
Now one is nesting in a broken bluebird box that I put in the shed until I could replace the back that some crazy woman popped the box off of the post with a mower. (See my bluebird post on the quad cities daily for that story).
Jackie Witt at Down on Main Street Antiques and Uniques at the 
corner of 6th and Main in Tuscumbia sent me a message on FB about a bird nest over the door of her store. The first time I stopped by all I saw was the nest. As I got ready to go home, Jackie and her husband drove up and as we walked back to the store, Momma robin flew in with a worm for one of the babies. As we stood there watching her feed, she decided that too many folks were staring at her nest and sat on the nest just staring at us, just daring us to come closer.
A new bird I had not seen previously at my place was inside my greenhouse this afternoon trying to find a way out. Apparently when fledging from the nest under the eve, instead of flying out to the garden, it took a wrong and got inside the greenhouse. It needed a good drink of water. I propped the door and went back to the house and got a fine weave fishing net that I use for catching hummingbirds in Mom’s garage and caught the youngster. I gave it a drink of water and as I walked out of the garage to turn it loose, it bit one of my fingers. When I finally got the little snapping turtle loose and let it go, it flew straight back into the greenhouse. So after another chase, I catch it and it rewards me with another bite. After turning it loose, it made a mad dash off toward the dry creek. I posted its picture on Facebook asking if anyone knew what it was, and Allison James, one of my co-workers found a picture of a Yellow-breasted Chat that identified it. Facebook is good for 
something.
The most unusual place I’ve seen a nest built? Mom had troubles with starlings trying to build a nest on the columns of her porch. She rolled up a rubber snake where they were building. It did deter the starlings, but a barn swallow built a nest on top of the snake.
